WELCOME BACK RIDERS OF THE ASTRAL STORM! It has been quite a show! And now Eclipse Season is brought to a close with a New Moon in Libra on the evening (PST) of the 12th. I will discuss that in more detail under the card I've pulled for this moon- THE TOWER! Today (Friday) Mercury goes direct! Mercury has been retrograde in Libra, an air sign indicating that the difficulties likely popped up in conversation and around relationships. During the retrograde I re-watched some of my favorite British period pieces and one line which seemed to pair well with the confusion of the season stuck in my head, "Nay, I insist on knowing your meaning sir!" Hopefully, I can now retire that line for a while as Mercury goes direct...on the North Node of Fate! Big news may surface both in the news and in your life. And finally before we move on to the TOWER Venus finally cleared her retrograde shadow at 0 degrees Virgo and we are now covering new romantic and creative territory. Whew!
NEWS
A Q and A I did with Girls Like Us is now out in their latest issue #7 (a favorite number of mine)!
Gift Certificates for READINGS available! Click on the"Readings + Spells + Magic" tab or email me for more information.
THANKS TO ALL ALWAYS AND ALL WAYS FOR READING AND SPREADING TAROTSCOPES!!
new moon in air, quite a pair, ones own flare, short hair, what is fair, knowing you are rare, show you care, this life with whom you share, sailing ships, shake your hips, extra tips, taking sips, paper clips, a thread that rips, no more back flips, or loose lips, uranus features, strange creatures, good teachers, top of the bleachers, out reaches, a tub of leeches, a last trip to the beaches, peace doves, leather gloves, stars above, love love love,
--MW
Without further ado! The general card from Amy von Harrington’s deck for all:
THE TOWER
I’ve been thinking and talking a lot about ships lately, in particular the relation-ship, which may be more of a canoe in terms of its sensitivity to change and weight distribution. From an astrological perspective these conversations are no accident. The recent Eclipse at 4 degrees Aries opposite the Sun in Libra was also concerned with “we” and where to put the “me” and the “you” and whether to dot the “i”. Next up is the New Moon in Libra, which I’ve been calling the “closing ceremony” to Eclipse Season. This is not entirely accurate since the effects of the Eclipses may be felt for the next 6 months, but thinking of of the New Moon this way makes me feel more friendly towards it and all of the storms of change that seem to have preceded it during this Eclipse Season.
The New Moon in Libra is also very much concerned with the relation-ship. Sometimes we board a relation-ship (canoe) consciously or unconsciously aware that the other person has a tendency to periodically stand up and wave their arms. When this happens you may find that your response is to either sit very still or shift from side to side slightly to prevent the boat from capsizing. If this continues and becomes a pattern, you may find that when faced with an Eclipse (like the one we recently experienced), which often brings these patterns to consciousness, that you either have to jump ship or renegotiate. “When do I get to rock the boat?” The New Moon in Libra is an excellent time to reestablish patterns which will allow for smoother sailing and the ability to weather the kind of inevitable storms which are beyond our control.
Because I’ve been talking to so many people who seem to be at a breaking point in their relationship or who have been stepping on a crack, I decided to ask my mother, who has been on board a relation-ship with my father for almost 45 years, what she thought prevented either party from jettisoning after all these years. She offered three suggestions: “One thing I would say, which also comes from observing relationships in different cultures is that you don’t enter into a relationship alone. It’s not just you and the other person, it’s their community and yours, your family and theirs- you have support. And then what I can say about your dad and I, is that we’ve always wanted the best for each other.” And the third ingredient which she suggested provides some sort of adhesive to the relationship is, “Being able to take care of ourselves individually as well. There were limits to the support we could provide one another. There were somethings we had to take care of within ourselves.”
As someone who is queer, this first suggestion that two people don’t enter into a relationship alone felt somewhat foreign to me since most queer relationships don’t easily find support from either family or community. Even so, I understood what my mother seemed to be saying- a relationship which thrives best in a vacuum can’t easily survive.
Wanting the best for each other. This is something that makes sense whether the relation-ship you are sailing is a friendship, familial or something more intimate. The other day, feeling rather disgruntled and in the midst of running errands I pulled up to an intersection where a stranger holding a sign requesting money approached my window. “I’m so sorry,” I said. “I don’t have any money today.” He was holding one of his eyes kind of scrunched shut, but he looked at me with the remaining open one and smiled, “That’s okay,” he said warmly, “you’re still beautiful.” I was startled by the compliment since he offered it so freely to an empty hand.
Finally, when sailing the relation-ship, there will always be points at which you or your sailing partner has go into the castle alone to battle your or their demons. My go to visual for this moment is a scene from the movie Labyrinth where Sarah leaves her muppet friends at the castle door to confront the goblin king. “I have to face him alone,” she says. “But why?” The dog muppet riding the dog muppet asks. “Because that’s the way it’s done,” she replies. “Well if that is the way it is done then that is the way you must do it, but should you need us…” he says. “Yes,” her goblin friend agrees,”should you need us…” “I’ll call,” she says. Which seems to me to be one of the most compelling arguments for relationships of various kinds. There will always be things you simply have to do alone, but it is also important to know who your muppets are- the ones you can call on for support and the ones you can offer support in return.
The card I’ve pulled for this New Moon is The Tower. The Tower doesn’t really code or conceal its message- “Change,” it says. Whether you interpret that as a command or just a confirmation is up to you. The Tower simply reminds us that change is inevitable and, in the case of this moon, it seems to indicate that while one person may rock the boat in a relationship both people must move to either accommodate the sudden movement or decide it is time to jump ship. Libra is the sign of the balancing scales and like the tower anything you add to one side or the other will change the whole structure. Whenever I pull The Tower card for a client in a reading their reaction is typically, “Uh oh.” But I always welcome The Tower with applause, “A change! How exciting!” The dread that most people experience around change, I find, seems to be because they think that change is something that is happening TO them rather than WITH them. I encourage you at this New Moon in Libra to think about the changes you want and need to make so that you and your shipmates have the freedom to stand up and wave your arms, but also acknowledge that when you do, everyone on board must accommodate the movement.
